stimare

Forms

stimare (first-person singular present stìmo, first-person singular past historic stimài, past participle stimàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is the popular outcome, inherited from Latin aestimāre (“to value, appraise; to judge”), properly “to set the price”.^[2][1][3] DELI, GRADIT and the GDLI derive it from the learned estimare, with the loss of the first syllable.^[4][5][6] The LEI counts this form among the inherited outcomes and the form with ⟨e-⟩ among the learned ones, so the two are doublets.^[3][1]

The Latin verb continues in every Romance language except Romanian.^[3] The popular forms are Old French esmer, Occitan esmar and Catalan esmar, while French estimer, Spanish estimar and Portuguese estimar were remade on the Latin.^[2][3][7] Italian lent the word to Romansh as stimer and to the dialect of Erto in Friuli.^[7][1][3]

The origin of the Latin verb, older aestumāre, is unclear.^[8] Sabatini–Coletti, Gabrielli and Zingarelli derive it from Latin aes (“bronze, money”), and Devoto from a superlative adjective *aestimus “most bronze-like, most precious”, formed like optimus from ops (“wealth”).^{[9][10][11][12]} De Vaan finds the explanation from the word for bronze and a word for “cut” hard to believe, and prefers a link with Proto-Indo-European *h₂eis- (“to seek”), the root of Latin aeruscāre (“to beg”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The LEI dates the first Italian record, in the sense “to value, set the price of something”, to Guittone d'Arezzo in 1294, and Old Venetian stimar to 1300.^[3] Nocentini dates the verb to before 1313, and GRADIT has its first record before 1313 in the sense “to hold in high regard”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Dante used stimare for “to think, judge”, as in the formula se bene stimo, “if I judge rightly”.^[4][5][13] In older use the verb also meant valuing citizens' property for the estimo and setting their share of tax.^[13] DELI dates “to set the price” in Matteo Villani, before 1363, and “to hold in high regard” in Varchi, before 1565.^[4]

The noun stima is a deverbal with no suffix; it is found in the wool statutes of Siena (1292–1309) and as “good opinion” in Boccaccio.^[4] Later senses include the stima of a ship's position (1824), the Tuscan farming terms stime vive (livestock) and stime morte (straw, manure and tools) in the 1830s, and successo di stima (1908), a calque of French succès d'estime.^[4] The phrase non stimare un fico “not to care a fig” is found from 1492.^[3] The reflexive stimarsi “to consider oneself” is recorded in Manzoni's Promessi sposi (1823–1825); in Tuscany it also means “to give oneself airs”.^[4][11][13] Sottostimare is a calque of English underestimate.^[3]

Timeline

• 1292–1309 – The noun stima appears in the wool statutes of Siena.^[4]
• 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses stimare “to value”.^[3]
• 1300 – Old Venetian stimar is recorded.^[3]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses it for “to think, judge”.^[4]
• Before 1363 – Matteo Villani uses it for “to set the price”.^[4]
• Before 1565 – Varchi uses it for “to hold in high regard”.^[4]
• 1823–1825 – Manzoni uses the reflexive “to consider oneself”.^[4]
• 1908 – Successo di stima is recorded by Panzini.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To appraise, to set the price or value of something: Un perito ha stimato l'anello.^{[5][14][11][15]}
2. To estimate approximately: stimare a occhio (to estimate by eye).^[5][14][15]
3. (navigation) stimare la rotta: to work out a vessel's position and course by dead reckoning.^[14][13]
4. To consider, judge or think, often with a predicate: La stimavano una brava insegnante.^{[5][14][11][15]}
5. To esteem, to hold in high regard: Nel quartiere tutti lo stimano.^{[5][14][9][11]}
6. (reflexive) stimarsi: to consider oneself: Puoi stimarti contento.^[14][11][15]
7. (reflexive, Tuscany) To give oneself airs.^[11][10][13]

Word family

• stima
• stimabile
• stimato
• stimatore
• disistimare
• disistima
• sottostimare
• sovrastimare
• ristimare

Related words

• estimare
• Latin aestimō

Usage notes

Estimare is the older or literary form of the same verb.^[11][13] A Tuscan proverb runs chi stima non compra, “who appraises does not buy”.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Pfister, Max; Schweickard, Wolfgang; Prifti, Elton (eds.) (1979–), Lessico Etimologico Italiano, Wiesbaden: Reichert; online at lei-digitale.it, p. 1, 1150
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d e f g De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 20, 184
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
10. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
13. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ a b c d Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
16. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET